UTAR Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (FICT) held the UTAR-FICT Intervarsity Capture-the-Flag (CTF) Challenge @ The Amazing Hunt on 22 July 2023 at Kampar Campus. The challenge was participated by 20 teams, consisting of students from eight universities: UTAR, Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Universiti Malaya (UM), Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU), Universiti Selangor (UNISEL) and Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL).

FICT, together with other regional organisations, namely Hilti ASIA IT Services Sdn Bhd, LGMS and iPay88 (M) Sdn Bhd, collaborated to organise the Intervarsity CTF Challenge for the first time for university students.

The challenge aimed to attract young talents and provide them with a platform to test and enhance their cybersecurity skills, knowledge and problem-solving abilities in a practical and competitive environment.

The challenge kick-started with an opening ceremony, which saw the presence of UTAR Vice President for Student Development and Alumni Relations Prof Dr Choong Chee Keong, Dean of FICT Prof Ts Dr Liew Soung Yue, Organising Chairperson Ts Dr Chang Jing Jing, Head of Human Resource Technologies of Hilti ASIA IT Services Sdn Bhd Joey Ong, Chief Operating Officer of LGMS Gilbert Chu, Assistant Marketing Manager of iPay88 (M) Sdn Bhd Tee Jia Nee, and brilliant participants.

In his opening speech, Prof Choong said, “UTAR is very honoured to host this Capture-the-Flag challenge, a popular cybersecurity game format where participants in teams, compete to solve a variety of security-related challenges. This challenge encourages participants to use their skills and knowledge in areas such as web security, cryptography and more to enhance their cybersecurity expertise in a friendly and competitive setting. I would also like to thank the organising committee, sponsors, and participants as well as the FICT academics, staff and students who have made this challenge a success.”

The UTAR-FICT CTF Challenge @ The Amazing Hunt is a first-of-its-kind cybersecurity competition that includes both physical and online challenges. Held in cooperation with EC-Council and FICT cybersecurity team, the challenges were filled with real-world threat scenarios as well as fun and exciting puzzle games.

UTAR-FICT Intervarsity Capture-the-Flag (CTF) Challenge @ The Amazing CyberHunt ended with a closing ceremony and a prize-giving ceremony.

“Congratulations to all winners, and to the rest, I congratulate you for your effort and hard work in this challenge. All participants have taken up the challenge and that was a very good effort. Regardless of whether you win or not, it is about the effort you put in to improve yourself. Your participation is more important than winning the competition because to prepare for the challenge, you had learnt a lot and this experience will not be gained if you have not participated nor taken up the challenges,” said Prof Liew in his closing speech.

The list of winners is as follows:

The Champion team from APU walked away with a cash prize worth RM1,500, trophies and certificates. UTAR team won a cash prize of RM500, trophies and certificates. Last but not least, the second runner-ups from APU and UniKL walked away with cash prizes worth RM250 for each team, alongside trophies and certificates.

Congratulations to all the winners and participants!